1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to secure documents comprising a radiofrequency identification device, and particularly secure documents comprising a radiofrequency identification device with reinforced protection of the said radiofrequency identification device.
2. Description of Related Art
Contactless radiofrequency identification (RFID) devices are increasingly used to make documents secure, particularly by incorporating these RFID devices inside the document itself. A contactless RFID device is a device made up of an antenna and a chip connected to the terminals of the antenna. The chip is generally not powered and receives power through electromagnetic coupling between the antenna of the reader and the antenna of the RFID device; information is exchanged between the RFID device and the reader, particularly information stored in the chip, for example relating to the identification of the holder of the document or other types of information relating to the document on which the device is placed.
Thus, secure documents such as passports for example may incorporate RFID devices for identifying the holder of the document. In the case of a passport, the memory of the chip contains information such as the identity of the holder of the passport, their country of origin, their nationality, the visas of the different countries visited, entry dates, movement restrictions, biometric data etc.
The RFID device is generally manufactured independently from the document and is then incorporated by gluing between the cover and the bottom of the first page, for example, of the passport. The RFID device comprising the antenna and the chip connected to each other is then integrated into a substrate made of paper, plastic or other material (commonly called ‘inlay’).
Such documents are flexible documents and are subjected to twisting and bending stresses that can be withstood by the RFID device inserted in them without damage, providing the said stresses merely curve the document and the substrate. However, if the stresses are too great, the document is not sufficiently flexible and the curve can turn into a break or fold that can damage the RFID device. That is even more true when the document takes the form of a book like a passport, and thus has a more rigid binding system that can result in much easier folding or breaking if the bend is perpendicular to the said binding.